Madam Chair, our government knows the tourism industry has been one of the most impacted sectors of our economy and we are committed to supporting its recovery. That is why we have extended the Canada emergency wage and rent subsidies to continue to support employees in the tourism sector. The Canada emergency wage subsidy has already helped more than 5.3 million Canadians to keep their jobs, and the Canada emergency rent subsidy and lockdown support has supported more than 154,000 organizations.
Budget 2021 also proposes to invest $500 million toward the tourism relief fund to support local tourism businesses in their recovery process and position them for future growth. My colleague from northern Ontario pushed that really hard with FedNor, ensuring it had the appropriate investments to support tourism in northern Ontario.
We will also allocate $400 million through Canadian Heritage and regional development agencies to support major and local festivals and other events to attract tourists to our beautiful country.
We know the importance of tourism in our economy and we plan to dedicate $100 million to Destination Canada to support marketing campaigns to encourage both Canadians and international visitors to travel our great country.